The Believer’s Blueprint - Sharing Your Story - August 23, 2026

Hey, friends. Welcome to the City Hope podcast. My name is Bobby Thompson, and I have the privilege of serving as a lead pastor. I pray that today's message would inspire you, it would encourage you, and it would also challenge you in your walk with Christ. Enjoy today's sermon.

You can be seated. Can we give our worship team a little hand of applause? Thank you, guys. Welcome. Wow, that was amazing.

What a wonderful time of worshiping together again. As Brian mentioned, let me just say this. Thank you for being here today. Especially if this is one of your first times. We want you to know that your presence matters.

It's a really, really big deal to us that you decided to come and worship and pray and sing and all that stuff, man. It just means so much. I'm really standing here this morning and I'm so full of gratitude. I just. I'm so thankful for all that the Lord's doing.

Listen, I want y' all to celebrate with us. We announced a couple weeks ago that our Hope center, something that God put on our heart, this coming Saturday, we're gonna have our grand opening. And God has just been doing amazing things there already. Last week, we announced that we closed on 25 acres that are now our property, that we're gonna build a ch one day. And listen, this is even more exciting.

Today we have beach baptism. We got 17 people getting baptized today. Like, come on, y'. All. God is up to some really cool things here at City Hope.

And sometimes we just gotta remind ourselves the things we can be grateful for. Right? How many of you guys got something in your life to be grateful for? Anybody. Anybody got something.

Hopefully they're, like, sitting next to you. That's somebody that you can be grateful for. Anybody grow up in, like, an old school Baptist church? Anybody in here like that? Y' all remember God is good and all the time.

Yes. Some of y' all aren't Baptist, and y' all knew that one. Like, that's pretty good. We just gotta remind ourselves all the time, God's good. God is good all the time.

And I love that even when we don't feel it, even we don't see it, you know, his goodness is running after us. And so I love that. I'm just really, really, really thankful today for all that the Lord's doing and that he's going to continue to do. We're in the middle of a series called the Believer's Blueprint. This is week three, and we've just been studying God's word about what is it?

The things that if I'm a believer. If I'm a follower of Christ, if I consider myself a Christian, what is the blueprint for me to live my life? What are the things that God asked me to do? God's not silent. He doesn't just say, well, you know, pray the prayer and then go live however you.

He calls us to live in a clearly designed way. If you want to be fruitful, you want to have joy, you want to have peace that surpasses all understanding, we got to live according to God's blueprint. Now, here's why I think it's really important for us to do this right, because we might know God's blueprint. Let's just say God's blueprint is this straight line. But what do we do?

Life begins to happen. And we're walking along and we start doing what? We start drifting into our own lane, right? We start drifting into. Life happens.

And then before we know it, we're looking back at God's blueprint and going, oh, I gotta get back to there. And so we understand that maybe if you're sitting here this morning or this season of your life and you just feel like your relationship with God is lacking, or you're a little bit isolated, you're a little bit disappointed, you're a little bit frustrated, maybe it's because you're missing out on the blueprint that he gave us to live. And I've been saying this every week. A passive approach to God's blueprint will always leave you lacking. If you look at your life and you're not on that path that God's given you, then you can probably see in some of these places we're gonna be talking about that.

Hey, I gotta get back to that. I need to intentionally build my life around God's blueprint. So week one, just a quick recap. We talked about prayer and fasting. Prayer and fasting are unbelievable tools for God's people to use.

But they're not just tools, they're expected. God expects you to pray. God expects you to fast. He wants to have conversations with you. And so we have to make sure that is a foundation in our lives.

Last week, we talked about the importance of the local church. Why do I need godly community in my life? Why is it that I get up early on Sunday and I go to church and I spend time. I. I gotta have a spiritual family. It's a big, big, big part of my life.

God expects his children to live in community with one another, which, by the way, you know, it's one Thing to come into a service, right? You come in, you sit for an hour, hour and 15, sometimes an hour and 30 if the preacher goes long. And that's great. I love that we gotta do that. But it's very easily just to go through the motions if that's all you do, right?

So I want to encourage you. Get into a connect group, get in somewhere serving, get into more than just attending on a Sunday. Today, as soon as this service is over, right here in this little area, it's called the landing, alright, we're gonna have some people over there. And if you're not in a connect group, maybe you want one for yourself, you and your spouse get in a connect group. We have these groups created for you because we want you to be in community.

So today we're going to look at another expectation from God. And I'm going to be honest with you. This is probably one of the hardest ones. This is probably one of the ones that don't get done the most. That if you want a fruitful life, if you want a God honoring life, this is something that we are responsible for.

And so today we're going to talk about the responsibility of sharing your faith. The churchy word that we use for that is called evangelism. All of us, if we are part of the family of God, you are called by God to, to share your faith. Now let me give you a quick definition. Okay?

You could take a picture of this or write it down. Here's a quick definition. Okay. Evangelism, what does that mean? It's presenting Jesus to people in order that they may come to know, trust and live for him.

You presenting Jesus to people so that they will come to know him, trust him and live for him. If you have a desire to grow in your relationship in the Lord, and I pray that you do, most of you are here because you have some sort of desire in your heart to live according to God's blueprint. If you are pursuing godliness in your life, then understand this Godliness requires that we discipline ourselves in the practice of evangelism. If you want to take a step, some of you, you've been kind of feeling like, man, I've just been on this same kind of spiritual plane for a while. And maybe this is an area that God's going to speak to your heart about today.

Because if you're going to truly pursue godliness, this is an area that we must practice. If we're going to mature in our faith, then we need to understand that we have to share our faith. Now, one thing I pride myself on is being real, right? I don't want to get up here and be fake and live the rest of the week a different person. Alright?

So let's just be a little bit real, a little bit honest. Today most Christians don't do a good job of this. Now, I know y' all got quiet because y' all are like the super spiritual folks, right? But let's be honest. Let's just, let's just be real.

Most of us don't do this really well. Why? One of the primary reasons why we don't speak up, why Christians don't speak up more, is because of fear, right? What are they going to say? Are they going to think I'm some crazy churchy lady?

Like, well, I don't know all the verses. I don't know the whole Bible. I don't have it all memorized. How do I bring this up in a conversation? How do I talk about this?

And we allow fear to keep us from living God's blueprint, the path that he created for us. We allow fear to keep us from the conversation. And so what we must do, what we must understand. I want to make this clear from the get go, okay? I don't want any questions.

All Christians are not expected to use the same methods of evangelism, but all Christians are expected to evangelize. All right? So your method and my method may be different, but we're all expected, according to God's word, to evangelize, to share our story. Now, some people, the way you evangelize is through spoken word. You're speaking, you're talking, you're having conversations, right?

Some people, it's through written words. Write a book, write a poem, write. Write something, right? The written words. Some people, it's one on one.

Some people, it's in a crowd. Some people record their words, right? Do a video shoot. A video shoot, a YouTube, whatever. All of us are called and expected to evangelize, although our methods may be different.

God has called you to share good news. I'm going to give you three verses. They're all going to be here on the screen. Look at all three of them together. The Bible is full of these verses, but let me just give you probably what maybe the most popular or the Most known.

Matthew 28, great commission. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. Look at all the action here. Go make disciples, baptize, teach. What's he saying, go share your faith.

Go tell people about me. It is your duty as a Christian, as a disciple of Jesus. Mark chapter 16. Then he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. John, chapter 20.

Jesus said to them, again, peace be with you, as the Father has sent me. Guess what? I'm sending you. Now, listen, that's not just for pastors and missionary. That's for Christians.

That's for people who consider themselves followers of Christ. Jesus is saying, I was sent into this world and God sent me. And guess what? I'm sending you. You got to be the ones to go and tell.

Over and over and over. Throughout Scripture, Jesus implores his followers, go tell the world about me. But we allow fear. We allow fear to keep us from doing this. And here's another side again.

I told you I want to be a little bit real today. So I'm gonna push on you a little bit. And I'm pushing on myself, too, okay? I'm not just standing up here acting like I'm the greatest at this. Another reason why we don't do this is pride is selfishness.

I'm more worried about me. I'm more worried about what people are gonna think about me. I'm more worried about all this. I got too much going on, and I got my life to live. And we allow selfishness to keep us from living out.

The Great Commission, not the great. Not the Great question. Right. The Great Commission. This is what he sent you and I to do.

And the only way that you and I are ever going to be able to do this is if we decide and understand that his story is bigger than myself. His commission, what he wanted for us. Now, here's the right mindset. I want to keep it simple. I want to keep it something that you can remember.

The right mindset for evangelism is this. His cross is my commission. His cross is my commission. When I think about what Jesus did for me, that should be the thing that pushes me to. To share my faith.

Not what are people gonna think? What do I say? Do I have all the right answers? I'm thinking about the wrong things. That's the wrong mindset.

The right mindset is, oh, my goodness. He took that crown of thorns for me. Those nails, that mocking that he took, that torture that he took, that beating, that. That death that he took. That was all for me, man.

I gotta. I gotta go tell some people about that. I gotta live my life in a way that people understand that. His cross is my commission. See, Calvary is the why.

Why do I need to share my faith? Why? Because of what Jesus did on the cross. His love, his forgiveness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his mercy, all the attributes that he portrays. That's why I tell my story.

That's why I share my faith. That's why I share the gospel message.

So how? How do I share my faith? We understand the why. Okay, but how do I do it?

Do I go make a sign and stand out on the corner and hold it up and tell everybody turn or burn?

Maybe. Do I, Do I. Do I sell everything that I own and move to Zambia and move to Haiti and then just start telling everybody I see about Jesus? Maybe. Do I go learn how to preach and start my own church?

Maybe. How? No matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter who you're called to share with, the Bible gives us a lot of different models, a lot of different understanding of how, different ways that God tells people to evangelize, different ways that God tells people to share their story. So I want to share a quick story with you today. I think it's very practical.

It's very understandable for all of us to. And I think God will use it to speak to our hearts. So if you have your Bible, go to John, chapter number nine. John, chapter number nine. Now, this is in the midst of Jesus earthly ministry, okay?

Jesus came to earth and he was doing ministry with his disciples. He was kind of flipping the world upside down. He was teaching, he was preaching, he was healing, he was doing miracles. He's doing all this stuff. And this is right in the middle of one of those miracles in John, chapter number nine.

So let's stand together in honor of the reading of God's word, and we'll read through the first 11 verses here. We're going to tackle this whole chapter, but we're only going to read the first 11 verses here as we dig into this story. This is about Jesus, okay? And he was passing by, verse one. He saw a man blind from birth.

And his disciples asked him, rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind? So they automatically had an assumption that somebody did something wrong, right? The only way that this guy could be suffering, the only way that this something wrong in his life is somebody sinned. Somebody had to really mess up. And then look at Jesus answer in verse 3, neither this man nor his parents sinned.

Jesus answered. This came about so that God's works might be displayed in him. So I'm gonna stop here, and I'm not preaching on this, but I want you to hear this today, okay? These disciples are asking the question that many of you have asked. Why is this happening?

Right? Something bad happens in our life. Something bad things happening to good people. The disciples are like Jesus, why did this happen? Why did it have to go down this way?

Look at his answer. It came about so that God's works might be displayed in him, right? So God had a purpose. God has a reason for everything that happens. And right here he's telling us that this man was born blind so that God's going to get some glory out of this.

Now let's watch how that happens. He says this, we must do the works of him who sent me. While it is day, night is coming when no one can work. Verse 5. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

And he said these things. And then here's where it gets a little weird. He spits on the ground. He makes some mud from his saliva. He spread the mud on his eyes.

Go, he told him, wash in the pool of siloam, which means sent. So he left. This is the blind man, washed and came back. Seen his neighbors, those who had seen him before as a beggar said, isn't this the one that used to sit begging? Some said, yeah, he's the one.

Others said, nah, he looks like him. But then he kept saying, I am the one. So they asked him, how are your eyes open? And he answered, well, the man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes. And he told me, go to shalom and wash.

So when I went and washed, I received my sight. Let's pray. Father, bless the reading of your word. Use it today to challenge us. Give us courage.

Give us boldness to live our lives. For you to share your story, to share our story, to share our faith that you've given to us. Lord, we love you and thank you in Jesus name, Amen. Amen. You can be seated.

Really, really powerful example of someone who experienced a dramatic miracle in their life. And then they begin to freely and and courageously share it. Now, the rest of the chapter here shows us what happens when this blind man starts talking, when he starts living according to God's blueprint, when he starts doing what God's called us to do. Questions begin to come, pressure begins to come. Boldness is needed.

And then he starts understanding Jesus a little better. So how do we do that? How do we share our faith? Let me give you three quick reasons. The man in John 9, I think, gives us a really clear blueprint.

And here's number one. Keep it simple and keep it personal. Keep it simple and keep it personal. Now, if you go back to verse eight, the Bible says the neighbors and people who knew him before begin to question, guess what? You and I have a past.

You and I have. Some of us have a past that we're not real proud of, right? Some of us would probably be pretty embarrassed if people found out about our past. And people. Our neighbors, people who knew us then, they know a little bit more about our past.

And so think about this. What do you think the enemy, who doesn't want you to evangelize, who doesn't want you to tell people about Jesus? What is he going to use to keep you quiet? What is he going to use to keep you not living according to God's blueprint? He's going to use a little doubt.

Hey, wait a minute. How can you do that? Remember when you said that? Remember when you did that? Remember when those sins that you did.

And there's always going to be people. And just like here we. We see this, the enemy's trying to use something against us so that we don't share what Jesus did for us, right? And so just think about it. In this story, the.

The gossip girls, they're all. They're all talking. Is that him? Is that the guy we. Is that.

No, it can't be him. I mean, it kind of looks like him, but I don't think it really is. And they just. They're starting to doubt, and they're starting to go, wait a minute. That can't be him.

He's done all that. He's the blind guy. He's the beggar. And finally he pipes up and he's like, it is me. It is me.

I used to be that, but I'm not that anymore. I am the one. And then his neighbors are like, whoa, well, wait a minute. You used to be like, how did that happen? How in the world did you go from being blind to now being able to see?

And so he begins to tell the story, and again, what a crazy story, right? So there's this dude they call Jesus, and he hawked a loogie on the ground, and he was like, have y' all seen the pastor who did this, preached this sermon? And he spit in his hand and had one of his deacons come up and he rubbed it on his face. Have y' all seen that Christian? Come here real quick.

No, just kidding. Just kidding. That's a real thing. I was like, that's A little too far. But here's this guy and he's like, listen, Jesus spits on the ground.

He makes mud. It was gross. He rubbed it on my eyes. He told me to go clean. And now I can see.

And I want you to see this. He didn't preach a sermon. He didn't give them all the theological answers to all of their deep heart life questions. He kept it simple. And he said, this is what Jesus did for me.

I don't understand it. He spit mud, wash, I can see. And he kept his story pretty simple. He didn't go, have to go preach a sermon because, listen, he didn't have to prove anything. He was the proof.

His changed life was the proof. The way he acted now versus the way he acted then. He. He used to be blind and sit and beg and not know anything. But now he's walking around, he's talking, he's sharing his story, and he's like, listen, this is what happened.

His life was the proof. Now think about it. In our lives, if you see a person living a certain way, they're going one direction and then their life changes, and suddenly you see them going in another direction, it is inevitably going to happen. Friends are going to see that, family's going to see that, neighbors going to see that, and they're going to go, what happened to you?

You used to talk like this. You used to go here, you used to act like this. What is going on? Why is something different about you? And it's kind of a mystery, right?

You used to be going this way, but now you're going this way. What's. Tell me what's going on. All because your actions begin to stay what's so different. And so we have to understand when we say evangelize, when we say share your faith, it's not just with words.

It's with the way that I live my life. It's the actions that begin to tell a story, right? Think about it like this. Some of you in here have. Have a teenage boy in your house.

And I don't have any, but I used to be one, so I can speak on it a little bit. A lot of times teenage boys don't enjoy a good shower, okay? We'll just put it that way, right? Sometimes they, you know, hair's a little greasy and mom's got to be like, hey, you know, it's been three days. Come on.

Like, it's starting to smell. And you know, you go out in their car and it usually smells like a fish fillet from McDonald's and it's just, you know, what happens when that's the norm, right? But then one day, son comes downstairs and his hair is not greasy and he's shaved and he. He smells good. And, you know, you go out and see his car and it's vacuumed and it's washed.

What's going to be your question? What's wrong with you? Right? Because you used, you were living this way. This is how you normally are.

But the question should be, what's her name? Right? That should be. That should be the question. But it's probably a girl.

But when you see different actions, there's something in you go, what's changed? What's going on here? Why are you different? Why are you not acting like you normally do? And this is exactly what this man's doing.

He's like, I don't know. I used to be a beggar. I used to sit here blind. But now everybody sees the change and it's the new me. Here's what God did.

And man, I'm so thankful for that guy they call Jesus. And people begin to notice that his life was different. People noticed change in our lives, right? We may not think anybody's watching, but people notice change. And then if we keep going, the Pharisees, the religious people, not just his neighbors and the people who knew him, the religious people started taking notes and they start kind of grilling him a little bit.

And he says, you know what? I don't know how he did it, but here's what I do know, okay? And I think this is the strongest line in all of this chapter. He says, I was blind, but now I see. I was blind, but now I see.

That's the model church. That's the blueprint. You don't have to have all the answers. You just have to be honest I about your story. So keep it simple, keep it personal.

The second model that we see, and this one's tough, number two, stay bold, even if it's uncomfortable. Stay bold, even if it's uncomfortable. So the neighbors seem, the people who knew him before. And then watch what happens. The religious people, they begin to intimidate him.

The people that should be the most proud of him, the people that should be the most encouraging to him. Watch what they do in verse 13. Look at this. They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees. That day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

It was on the Sabbath. Uh oh, we're in trouble now. Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight. And once again, he says, he put mud on my eyes. He said, washed.

He told them, I washed. And now I can see some of the Pharisees, this man is not from God because he doesn't keep the Sabbath. But others were saying, well, how can then a sinful man perform such shine? Now there's division. So think about this.

This man's life was changed. He was blind. Now he can see. And the religious people are like, nah, we don't believe in all that. Some of them are like, well, yeah, I think it's real.

I think what he's going through is real. They're questioning his whole experience. Do we not live in a world that questions everything about God? Really? Really.

Come on, God, is that really. You can't see him. You can't talk to him. We live in a world that's going to question everything about your life that begins to change. Why are you doing that?

Guess what? Church people are always going to doubt your relationship. People are always going to doubt. People are going to be like him. Like, do you know him?

Do you know what he is?

I can't believe that. But watch this. Even when the religious people are pressuring him, he doesn't back down. He doesn't back down. He doesn't water it down.

He doesn't start telling a different story so everybody feels comfortable. And he doesn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. He's real. They even go to his mom and dad and be like, hey, is that your son that was blind? And they're like, yeah, it's our son, but we don't know how it happened.

You gotta go ask him. And then watch this. They interrogate him again. And this is where I love. I love what the blind man says.

So a second time, they summons the man, verse 24, who had been blind. And he told him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. They're like, you got to give God glory. Not this Jesus guy.

And he answered again, look how simple this is. Whether or not he's a sinner, I don't know. But one thing I do know. I was blind and now I can see. Then they said, well, what did he do to you?

How did he open your eyes? He goes, I already told you idiots what he did, right? How many times do I gotta tell you? I keep telling you and you didn't listen. Why do look at this?

Why do you want to hear it again? You want to become one of his disciples, too? I love that. Are you so interested in my story because you want to have some of this for you in the face. In the face of.

He could have just turned and backed down and be like, you know what, guys? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I should have said anything. I know this might ruffle your feathers.

Now he turns the tables. He goes, you want some of what I got? You want to become one of his disciples, too? So his life changed, and it now created a desire for others to know. The blind man now had a desire.

I want my neighbors to know. I want the people who used to know me. I want the Pharisees to know. I want everybody to know what he did. Guess what?

Fear will always try to shut your mouth. Fear will always try to shut your mouth. Fear of looking weird, fear of rejection, fear of not knowing. You know what to say. But this man who was born blind shows us that courage is not the absence of fear.

Courage is having fear, but still speaking anyways, right? It's still going. You know what? I don't know all the answers. I don't know what's going on.

And sometimes I still screw things up. But guess what, God? I once was blind, but now I can see. You see, your story doesn't have to be polished. Your story doesn't have to be perfect.

It just has to be true, right? And so we don't back down. We don't pull back when things get uncomfortable. We keep it simple. We keep it personal.

We stay bold, even when it's uncomfortable. And finally, number three, Number three, we point people to Jesus, not our experience. Experience. Okay, we point people to Jesus, not just your experience. So watch this.

Look at the pattern here that happens. As this conversation continues, let me encourage you to go home and read this whole chapter. Read John, chapter nine. It's a beautiful story. This man's understanding of who Jesus is grows almost with every paragraph.

In verse 11, he starts with, by calling to him. Well, this is the man they call Jesus. I don't really know a lot about him, but this is the man they call Jesus. And then in verse 17, he says, well, he's the prophet. He's a prophet.

And then in verse 33, goes on, and he says, well, if this man were not from God, he could do nothing. So look, about his knowledge of Jesus is growing almost every other verse. Well, he's this guy named Jesus, and I think he's a prophet. Well, man, I know now that if he wasn't from God, he wouldn't be able to do this, right? So his testimony wasn't just about his new eyes.

His testimony was about the one who gave him the new eyes. His testimony was about this Jesus guy that came into his life and changed everything about him. And that began to be his story. The goal of every one of our stories, every time you share the gospel, every time you tell your story. We're not trying to make people impressed with our transformation.

Let me tell you about me and all the sin I used to do, right? I'm not trying to get you to be impressed about the transformation. What we're trying to get you to understand, what we're trying to get you to get to be a part of your life is we're trying to introduce you to the transformer, right? We're trying to introduce you to the one who gave me the power, to the one that I once was blind and now I see and it's his fault, right? We're trying to introduce you to that.

Psalm 107 says this. Let the redeemed of the Lord. That's those of us who once were blind and now we can see. Let the redeemed proclaimed that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe. I'm telling people about Jesus.

I don't know everything about him, but let me tell you what he did for me. I don't know everything that the Bible says, and sometimes I mess up, and sometimes I don't do a good job of following it. But guess what? Let me tell you what Jesus did for me. Now, I want to give a little side note here because I think this is really, really, really important, okay?

There should be a very noticeable difference between someone who is spiritually blind and someone whose spiritual eyes have been opened, okay? In the way you live your life, there should be a significant, clear difference. You guys ever, maybe you've used this phrase. You ever heard the phrase, oh, that's just the blind leading the blind. Y' all heard that?

What are we saying when we say that? Like, watch out, this is about to be a train wreck, right? Like, this is about to get. We got the blind leading the blind, okay? Now listen, when we, those of us who spiritually, our eyes have been open to God and his blueprint for our lives.

When we live like the culture lives, when we live like the world lives. And not according to God's blueprint. The saying should go like this. It's the blind leading those whose eyes are open.

Think about how dumb that is. I can see, but I'm being led by a culture. I'm being led by other things, other people who are blind. Would any of us sign up to be led by a blind person? No, I'm not doing that.

But that's exactly what we do when we live our lives according to culture. Culture, the world. Are people whose eyes are spiritually blind. They're not seeing. They're not looking at life the same way you are.

They're not living the same life you should be. They're not trying to live on God's blueprint. They're just doing what sinful blind people do. And so it is our job when we follow the culture instead of Christ, it's the blind leading those who can see. Church, we're not called to fit in.

And for some of you, man, that wrecks your soul because that's what you live for. Am I preaching too hard? Am I being too mean on y' all today? Because y' all are quiet, man.

Let's just be real. Some of you in here today, you worry more about what other people are gonna think. You put so much thought into every time you walk out the door because you cannot bear the thought that somebody might think you're normal.

Why would. Why are we trying to keep up with culture, standards? Why are we trying to live like the rest of the world? God gives us a blueprint. If my eyes have been open.

I mean, think about it like this. The blind man, he gets sight. He goes and he tells everybody about. What would it be like if we watched his story and he went back down and sat down in the same place and closed his eyes and started begging again? Bro, what is wrong with you?

You've been freed. You've been given sight. You've been given this new chance at life. What are you doing? Why are you going back that way?

And that's how a lot of Christians live our lives.

I'll sprinkle a little bit. Jesus on what I got going on over here.

Let me say this. If you don't want to make waves, if you don't want to be. If you don't want to be different, just be mediocre. Just fit in, right? Dress like everybody else.

Act like, talk like, think like, do what they do, go where they go. But maybe I want you to think about this today. Here's a little bit of a challenge. Maybe the reason nobody in your life, maybe the reason nobody in your life is asking you about your faith is because you ain't showing them anything different.

Your life looks just like theirs. Now, don't take this the wrong way. I'm not telling you got to be perfect. I'm not telling you can never sin. I'm not telling you can never mess up.

That's not what I'm saying. But God's given us a blueprint. God's given us some actions that we need to take. Maybe the reason why nobody's asking you, you know, hey, what's different about you is because you aren't showing them anything different. You aren't saying anything different in your life.

And here's the struggle, here's the tension when you do that, when we follow culture, when we're being led by the blind and our eyes are open, when we're doing that, you're losing your uniqueness. You're losing the power of your story that God's given you and not anybody else. The things that you've walked through, the really, really difficult things that you used to be blind and now you can see. You lose your uniqueness when you just follow in with culture. You lose your uniqueness when I'm just not gonna say anything.

I'm not gonna talk about it because I'm nervous. I'm not gonna show anybody that I once was blind. And now you lose the uniqueness of your story. You neutralize it.

Friends, listen. His cross is your commission. His cross, what he did for me on Calvary is the reason why I need to evangelize what he did for me when he opened my blind eyes. When he opened my blind eyes because of what he did for me. That's my why behind every gospel conversation.

That's why I'm able. And the how is right here in John, chapter nine. Keep it simple, stay bold, point people to Jesus. Keep it simple, stay bold. Point people to Jesus.

So let me end our time together today with the same question that the story forces us to answer.

As Jesus opened up your eyes, Have your eyes been open to the fact that God, creator of heaven and earth, sent his one and only Son to take on sin, to take on the cross, to die a torturous and horrible death, to be risen again three days later? Has your eyes been open to the fact that he did all that for you? And what he asks in return is for your life? What he wants from you is a surrendered heart that says, God, you are my Lord, my God. God, I believe in you, God.

I put my faith and trust in you, God, I've been living my own blueprint, and today you've opened my eyes. Have your eyes been open? I would say for the majority of you in here, the probably the answer is yes. But for some of you in here, you. You.

You're kind of there. You're almost there. You want to go there. But. But the.

The reality is you're. You. You might still be convinced that you can see just fine.

And maybe God's speaking to your heart this morning saying, no, no, no, no, no. Spiritually speaking, the Bible says there's one way that's through Jesus. If you've never. There's something stirring inside of you this morning, and you need to get your spiritual eyes open, there's something stirring inside of you. Doubting to have.

Have my spiritual eyes ever really been open, that's called the Holy Spirit, and God sends that, and that's conviction, and that's us. You know, hearing this call, getting this urge from the Lord that, hey, I want to do something in your life. A lot of times it makes you kind of want to throw up when you. When you're really honest about it, right? It's uncomfortable.

But I want you to know this.

You can shake off the chains of blindness today. You can shake them off. Your eyes can be spiritually open today. And I want to encourage. You say this a lot as a church.

We can't save anybody. I can't save anybody. But what we can do is we can set up the date between you and the Lord, between you and the Holy Spirit. And if God's speaking to your heart today, there's nothing more important to me and our staff and our Hope crew leaders. There's nothing more important in this world than you walking up going, hey, I want to know how I can get my spiritual eyes open today.

I want to know, can you show me? Can you pray with me and help me see from God's word? I'm ready to take that step. I got this conviction. I got something.

There's nothing more important to me in this world right now than having that conversation with you. And so today, the ball's in your court. If you're sitting here today and you know that you're spiritually blind and you're ready for that, that moment when. When the Lord enters into your heart and. And you ask him to be Lord and Savior and you give him yourself, take that step today.

Nobody else can make that decision for you students. This is your decision, young people. Mom and dad can't make it for you now. Second part of that is this many of us in here. Your eyes have been open.

You can. You can boldly say exactly what this man said. I once was blind, but now I can see. And if that's you, here's my challenge to you. Open your mouth this week, tell your story, share Jesus with somebody.

Go and do live according to your story. Might be the rescue that somebody else needs for their eyes to be open. What you've walked through, the pain, the hurt, the struggle, the sin, the victories, all the things that might be the thing that God uses to open up somebody else's eyes. Let that be your motivation instead of what are they gonna think about? And go share your story this week.

Church, because not. Because it's something that, that we want to do as a church, because it's the believer's blueprint. It's not optional. We treat it as it's optional, but it's not optional. This is for every one of us whose eyes have been open.

We need to go live it out. Would you pray with me?

Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for just the simplicity of being able to understand. Like, sometimes I complicate it, sometimes we complicate it and make it this thing that it's not. God, you. You lay it out so simply.

Lord, I pray that some men and women in here whose eyes have been open, their spiritual eyes, they're not blind. God, I pray that this week we would take a stand and stop living according to culture and start living according to your word. God, give us the heart, give us the divine appointment to speak truth, to speak life into someone. This week, God, many of us can think of someone right now in our. In our hearts and in our minds that their eyes are spiritually shut.

And God, continue to stir in our hearts that you may use our story. Hey, I once was blind, but now I see this guy named Jesus. God, give us the words, give us the wisdom, give us the courage and boldness to go evangelize to live out the Great Commission.

God, I pray that you would convict our hearts that this part of being a Christian is not optional. It's not just something that the church people do. It's not just something that pastors and missionaries do. It's the call that you've given all of us. And so, Lord, give us courage and boldness for those in the room.

That man, maybe they didn't come today thinking that their spiritual eyes were going to be the target. But, God, maybe you're just stirring and you're just sending your Holy Spirit conviction. God, and I just pray that that would stay there until they make that decision to give their lives to you. Lord, maybe there's one in here today that'll stay after this service and grab one of us. And Lord, I just pray for courage and boldness in that, that somebody's eyes would be open today to who you are and what you're all about.

And so, Lord, challenge us and change us. Use today to push us forward in our walk with you as we strive to be mature followers, mature disciples. Help us not to miss this place. This is part of your blueprint. This is part of what you've called us to do and who you've called us to be.

And so, Lord, help us to give it our all. In Jesus name, Amen. Thanks again for tuning in with us today. We would love to connect with you and the best way to do that is through social media media or go straight to our website. God bless you and have a wonderful day.